Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Devan Dubnyk meeting the EA SPORTS NHL team

This past Tuesday, Edmonton Oilers young gun Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and goaltender Devan Dubnyk stopped by the
EA SPORTS Canada development studio. While they knew beforehand that they were going to play NHL 13, what they didn’t
know was that we had a secret Hockey Ultimate Team challenge in store for them.

RNH getting photo reference shots

Before the challenge began, we got both players into EA Capture (motion capture studio) to take some photo reference
that will be used to improve their likeness in-game. This is how we make sure RNH actually looks like RNH in-game.

Producer Sean Ramjagsingh showing the guys the new features in NHL 13

From the Capture studio, the crew then went to the NHL 13 dev area. Producer Sean Ramjagsingh walked RNH &
Dubnyk through the improvements made to the game, focusing on True Performance Skating and goaltending. Both
players were thoroughly impressed by the new features and were ready to get hands on.

Team RNH-Dubnyk vs. Team Rammer-Andy

In an epic battle, Producers Sean Ramjagsingh and Andy Agostini took on RNH & Dubnyk in a 2v2 slug fest. The Oilers
crew took an early lead against the Producers (Canucks), until Rammer and Andy rallied late to send the game into OT.
It took an insane shootout winner from Dubnyk to put the Oilers back on top.

RNH takes a shot from the rooftop trying to hit the net on the soccer field below

That’s when we decided to let them know about the secret event, the HUT Challenge. Neither athlete knew about the
competition beforehand, but both were confident they could easily dispatch their opponents. The challenge consisted
of three events: rooftop shooting, accuracy shooting and an NHL 13 shootout. For the rooftop shooting challenge the
players even Producer Sean Ramjagsingh took part in the event, but it was RNH who won the rooftop shooting event.

Dubnyk ripping one at the top cheese target

In the target shooting challenge Dubnyk put up a fight, but at the end of the second challenge he was no match for
RNH’s soft touch. RNH nailed four targets in five shots to take a 2-0 lead in the competition.

Dubnyk celebrating as his in-game character robs the shooter

The final event of the challenge was an NHL 13 shootout. With RNH up 2-0 and the event worth 2 points, there was
still a chance for Dubnyk to tie it up. It took 14 rounds but Dubnyk showed some clutch goal scoring ability and got it
done. After three events we needed a tiebreaker.

An intense Foosball match to decide it

To decide the winner, both athletes decided to play Foosball. First to ten took the challenge. It was tight but at the
end of the competition, only one could emerge victorious.

Dubnyk celebrating as he wins the 1^st ever HUT Challenge in OT!

With a glorious final goal, Devan Dubnyk took the first ever HUT Challenge, defeating RNH after being down 2-0 in
the competition. As the victor, a special edition Devan Dubnyk HUT card will be created featuring boosted stats.
Congratulations to Devan!

RNH and Dubnyk pose for a post-challenge photo

After the competition was over, one winner emerged but RNH and Dubnyk were still on good terms. At least we hope
so since they room together. Could make for some awkward breakfast conversations.  

Photos Courtesy: http://richodam.tumblr.com/